Sunday, November 01, 2009

Jim Patterson

For the past year I've been following the work of Santa Cruz-based photographer Jim Patterson. Jim specializes in long exposure photography of the California coastline, usually during sunrises and sunsets. And after sunset, it's only natural that he's going to get the night photography bug. While watching every photograph that he uploaded to his Flickr stream, I saw the following gem: a panoramic night photograph of the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf.

There are a number of reasons why I like this photograph. Aside from the great combination of street lights and dawn peeking out above the horizon, the Santa Cruz Wharf is the one big object that stands out every time I visit Santa Cruz. But I've always found it difficult to photograph: it's long and wide and lacks interesting detail (like most piers in the U.S.). But Jim's photograph works so well because it captures the light and, more important, that feeling of being by the coast at that special time of day.

If you're a fan of Michael Kenna's style of black-and-white photography, you should take some time to look through the rest of Jim's work. Here's a sample: